One Day at a Time
by jherdar
Summary: 3,329 words. Shortly after Jake bonds with his ikran. When Neytiri takes them to the river for the ikran to swim, the two find themselves in a more intimate position than expected, where they have to confront their growing attraction. Slight lime.


Dusk was not always peaceful on Pandora. Above a jutting grassy ridge, banshees wheeled and turned in the sunset sky, mount and rider alike calling to each other with the occasional keening cry or roar. Below, Jake Sully and Neyiri were crouched in the soft grass.

"I came like this," Neytiri was saying, making a swooping motion with one hand. "This you - " she added her other hand, sweeping it at a similar, tighter arc. "I turn – I feel the wind – I turn very strong - " She glanced up at Jake.

"Yeah, I see," Jake cut in, tracing his own flight with an open palm. "I – I bank so hard, I almost fall off my banshee."

Neytiri laughed, tossing her head back and showing her small fangs. "You do not have the right feet," she said, looking down. Jake ducked his head, grinning. He knew what she meant – true Na'vi had a toe almost like a thumb, and they used it to hold tightly to their banshee during difficult maneuvers. The Avatars had 5 regular, human toes, and 5 fingers. It was a subtle difference, easily overlooked. The Na'vi seemed accustomed to the idea that the Dreamwalkers were built a little differently.

"Can't have all that and good looks," Jake finally said, shrugging. He watched her from the corner of his eye.

Neytiri snorted softly and pushed him on the shoulder. "Good looks until you fall from your _ikran _while we hunt."

Jake was about to speak, but his response was abruptly cut off by the hissing roar of an approaching _ikran. _He automatically began to turn and look, but then dropped to the dirt when the screaming banshee cut low over their heads. He threw his arms over the back of his neck as a warm blast of air buffeted the hilltop. The beast passed so closely overhead that Jake could hear the rider's clattering wooden decorations. He leaped to his feet, heart thundering, but the banshee had already swooped into the canyon below. Neytiri cried a dire-sounding Na'vi curse at the rider's fleeing form. Soon the pair's silhouette had disappeared beneath the thick canopy.

Jake stepped closer to the edge, glaring after the rider. "What the hell was that about?" he said. His hammering heart was slowing, but his combat instinct, identical to what he'd felt as a marine, was beating behind his eyes.

"Tsu'tey," Neytiri snarled. Her mouth tightened as she looked down into the valley below. "He does not behave as he should," she said, eyes hard.

_Oh, he behaves as he should_, Jake thought. Tsu'tey was jealous, he knew. Simple masculine jealousy was not a solely human failing. The chieftain-to-be felt he deserved Neytiri, and was insulted that Jake seemed to have dropped in from nowhere and won her affection.

"Let's just go," Jake said. Their banshees were sitting a ways behind them, at the edge of the treeline, cautiously growling and posturing at each other, making noises that were more squeaks than growls.

The two beasts perked up as they approached. "They are becoming familiar with each other," Neytiri said, moving up beside Seze and rubbing her neck.

The two banshees gently butted the tops of their flat heads against each other. "Looks like they like each other," Jake said. That's good, right?"

Neytiri smiled at him, stroking her mount's head but saying nothing.

They were both silent for a moment, enjoying a chance to reconnect with their _ikran_. It had been a scant week since Jake had bonded with his. He hadn't even named it, and he was surprised and a little intimidated by how strongly he already felt for the alien creature. It was the bond, he knew. Doubtless it had undergone millenia of evolution to produce exactly the feelings he was experiencing.

Something occurred to Jake that he'd been meaning to ask someone. "So how do I take care of him?" he said. "I mean, he stays at the top of Hometree when I'm not around, but do I – I don't know – _fly _him for exercise or something?"

Neytiri laughed. "You will fly him because you want to." She scratched Seze between the eyes. "You have felt it already. You do not like to be away from him. Your _ikran _is not horse – the bond is strong."

"Yeah, I get that," Jake said, stroking his banshee's nose. It butted him gently in the chest, growling softly and twisting its head back and forth. "So, do I feed him? Do I – I don't know – wash him?"

"They will hunt," Neytiri said. She flicked her chin out at the valley Tsu'tey and his Ikran had disappeared into. "Seze hunts there. Your _ikran _will go with her, now. _Ikran _are not tied, but they do not leave Hometree often. He will want to be close.

She stepped closer and stroked Jake's _ikran's _face, her hand going confidently to a spot that made the beast's eyes droop with pleasure. "They do not need to wash," she said, glancing at Jake, "but sometimes they will go to the river. A small part bends very close."

She glanced up at the approaching dusk. "Come," she said suddenly, vaulting onto her banshee's back. She called down, "It is good if your _ikran _knows where the water is!" and gestured for him to mount as well.

Jake hurriedly tried to orient himself as the two banshees crouched on their powerful back legs, coiling inward so that they even drew their heads back. He held on as tightly as he could, and as if on queue, the two of them suddenly exploded upward in a gale of flapping wings. His mount called and growled, quickly coming abreast to Neytiri and Seze.

The Na'vi princess jerked her head for him to follow, and the two of them banked through the sky towards Hometree, racing the coming dusk.

It took only 10 minutes to reach the hairpin bend of River that was closest to their home. The sky was dark enough now that the ground beneath them was beginning to glow softly, an ocean of lights – green, blue, purple - flowing by as they sped through the air above. Jake could see the river, now – a solid band of bright blue-green, glowing just as brightly as the rest of the forest. Neytiri guided them towards a colossal tree root that straddled the widest section of water. It was more than wide enough to accommodate the _ikran_.

Jake slid from his banshee, absently patting it on its heaving flank, walking to the edge of the root as if hypnotized. The river slid by smoothly fifty feet below, a shining ribbon with a quality of light just slightly different from the plants surrounding it. He saw pink-glowing fish jumping through the tumbles and rills of water.

"It's beautiful," he said as Neytiri came to stand with him.

"Yes," she said simply.

Jake looked up at her. The river's gentle light lit her face from below, and the light seemed fairly drawn to her bright eyes. She was smiling at him, clearly enjoying the effect her home had on him, and probably oblivious to the effect that _she _had on him. Now, alone with her for the first time in days, he felt drawn to her more than ever. If they were human, on a date, he would have held her hand. But she was Na'vi – the daughter of a holy woman, and princess of her tribe.

The quiet moment was spoiled by their _ikran_. Frisky and playful from the flight over, they let out simultaneous cries and vaulted over the Na'vi's heads, banking outwards and then diving sharply. They crashed beneath the river's surface, only to explode back up in a torrent of glowing water a few meters downstream, wrestling as playfully as any dogs on Earth. Neytiri laughed and called something unfamiliar to them in Na'vi.

"They will be good friends," she pronounced, watching the beasts fondly.

"I didn't think they would be so playful," Jake admitted. "They don't look like it."

"They look very fierce," Neytiri agreed. "_Ikran _in the wild are very dangerous. It is the bond that changes them."

"So there's nothing dangerous in the river?" Jake asked, peering down again. "I mean, no Na'vi-eating fish or anything, right?"

Neytiri laughed again. "No, it is very safe. Children play here often, and learn to spear fish. And Na'vi hunters come up here also, to leap into the water. To show who is bravest." She grinned teasingly.

"They jump down _there_?" Jake repeated in amazement. It was a good fifty feet to the water. But then, he was almost 10 feet tall now himself, wasn't he, and made of sturdier stuff. And Grace had once told him that the denser air on Pandora meant things fell only about 80% as quickly as on Earth. What would the recalcitrant biologist do to him if he told her he'd jumped from a tree into the river? He smiled at the thought.

"Come," Neytiri said suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts. "We will jump together."

"Jump – what? Now?" Jake asked, as Neytiri moved to a spot a few yards away. She peered down at the water, gauging the height.

"You have fallen further than this," she said, raising bright eyes. "And you landed on the ground, not in the river."

"But - "

"I will go first," she said, cutting him off, clearly enjoying his discomfiture. Her ears twitched playfully.

Before Jake could say anything, she began to slip out of her very spare top and brief loincloth, deftly pulling knots and releasing wrappings. He found it difficult to look away or ignore what he was seeing. Soon unclothed, she knelt in slim profile, carefully folding her garments on the ground before standing, thrillingly revealed in the glowing forestlight. She was all long legs and taut thighs, smooth back and small breasts. She had never looked more human, or – when she turned her elegant, feral face to him – more alien. And beautiful, by either standard.

"Watch how I jump," she said, "and do the same." It was an unnecessary admonishment - Jake couldn't have looked away even if an angry thanator had appeared on the root with them. Neytiri stepped carefully out to the very edge of the root, crouched, and then launched herself out into the cool air, falling in a graceful arc. It seemed to Jake like she fell for minutes, until she finally broke the river's surface in a graceful dive. Like the _ikran _before her, she resurfaced a few meters downstream. She raised a hand and whooped at him, before laughing and diving beneath the water again.

Jake hesitated for moment and then removed his own loincloth. "What've you gotten yourself into, Jake," he muttered, carefully padding to the spot that Neytiri had jumped from. "You didn't get your legs back just to jump off a damned cliff." He shook his head, watching Neytiri's slim form darting through the water like an otter, slick and gleaming under Polyphemus's light –

He shook his head like a dog, trying to focus on the task at hand. She'd made it look easy enough. He backed up a little ways and took a deep, calming breath, and then made a running leap, throwing himself out into open space –

"Whoo~o!" he cried as the world tilted crazily around him. He fought the urge to close his eyes as he turned one, two, three somersaults in the air, falling for longer than he'd expected before landing heavily on his back in the water. Blinded by a chaos of white bubbles, his momentum carried him almost down to the riverbed.

When the water cleared, he could see the glowing algae and plants that grew down here, giving the river its glow. A school of those glowing pink fish flashed by, and he grinned as he pushed hard off the bottom, surfacing in a spray of water. He shook his head to clear stray hair from his eyes. Neytiri raised her hand to him from a few meters downstream, laughing so hard that she seemed barely able to stay afloat.

"You land harder than the hunters," she called, still laughing as he swam closer, "but you jump much better!"

"Just good genetics," Jake said, letting the current carry him closer to Neytiri. He splashed at her playfully, and they bobbed there neck-deep for a few moments, catching their breath. The few stars that could outshine Polyphemus were beginning to appear in the sky overhead.

"Where'd the _ikran _go?" Jake asked, straining to lift his head for a better view downstream, kicking against the current to avoid drifting into Neytiri. The water was crystal clear – he struggled not to stare, to keep his eyes fixed on her face.

"Further down," Neytiri said easily. She was letting the current carry her a few feet, then kicking smoothly forward again. "We can call them - they will come."

"No," Jake said. "Let's just let them have some fun. Hard work being a ferocious flying lizard."

Neytiri laughed. She laughed so much more now than when he had first met her, and sometimes he caught her sparkling eyes resting on him for a little too long. Again he wondered what kind of trouble he was getting himself into, and found he didn't care. This river, this night – everything was more real when he was in his Avatar. He'd enjoy it, consequences be damned.

They had been slowly drifting, despite their efforts, and were coming up on a large log floating in the water. It was about 10 feet from end to end, anchored to the riverbed with choking vines and tangles of green along the entire length. "Come on," Jake said, swimming for it. Branches jutted from it beneath the water, and he found one he could stand on, sparing his legs the work of treading water. Now exposed from the chest up, he could feel the cool bite of the night air. He leaned back comfortably on the log and let his hands dangle in the water, warm by comparison.

Neytiri dove beneath the surface again before rising to stand on an extrusion of her own, a couple feet away. She too set her back to the log, raising her hands to pull aside her streaming hair. She swung it over her shoulder, sending a small spray of droplets at Jake. He kept his eyes resolutely forward, rather than risk temptation. She splashed quietly next to him, and he sensed her movement, but forced himself to not look.

"Are you happy, Jake?" Neytiri asked quietly, surprising him. He turned automatically to face her and then just as quickly jerked his eyes away. She was sitting on top of the log now, fully revealed, looking down at him with a trouble expression.

"I – yeah, I'm happy," he said, addressing his navel. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Neytiri sighed, dipping a long leg so that her foot could stir the water next to him. "I am happy," she said. "And that is what I fear. I have been happy teaching you about the Na'vi – and now, you are to become one of us – " she trailed off. Jake remained silent, waiting for her to go on.

"I do not know the future." she said. "I have never wondered about it or been worried. But I do not want things to change from how they are now. You – " she trailed off.

The ghost of Quaritch rose in Jake's mind, reminding him of the mission he'd been sent to do. Here, it was easy to forget about that life. But here too, it was impossible to completely ignore it.

"My brother Tommy, he always said to me, "Take it a day at a time," Jake said. "When I was a hu – " he cut himself off. Neytiri watched him curiously. "When I was on Earth," he began again, "I never worried about what might happen, 'cause you can't change any of that. Sure, bad things happened, but you move past them. And when I got hurt, things got real bad for a while." He looked up at the darkening sky. "I never would have thought a jarhead like me could end up like this, here on Pandora, falling in – " He cut himself off abruptly, realizing what he'd been about to say, realizing that he'd meant it.

Neytiri shifted, hesitated, then slid into the water next to him with scarcely a ripple, regarding him with luminous eyes.

"And now?" she asked. A drop of clear water ran down her nose, dripped onto her full bottom lip. She absently licked it away with a flick of her tongue.

Jake laughed a little shakily. "These days it's like I can barely tell up from down," he admitted. "I'm different from how I was. I worry about – "

Neytiri kissed him, grasping his shoulders and pulling herself in closer, pressing her naked body against his beneath the water. Paralyzed by shock, Jake was unable to respond for a moment, and then he was kissing her back just as desperately. The current drove them back against the log, pressed them together. He reacted automatically, wrapping his arms around her, sliding his hands down her smooth back and pulling her in tightly against himself. She gasped, wrapping her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. She moved her hips against him, away, then against him again more purposefully. Jake felt his senses spinning away, lost in the fragrance and warmth of her body clutched against him –

Neytiri broke their kiss with a gasp and leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. She unwrapped her legs from around him and pressed her body against him, eyes closed.

"I am sorry," she said at last, still breathing hard. "I did not mean to do that. Not yet. I am a leader of my people. Eywa - "

Jake, his own heart thudding painfully, only nodded. "I know, I'm not one of the tribe – " he began, but Neytiri put a finger to his lips.

"You are not Omaticaya," she agreed. Then she looked up at him and smiled, with the light of the forest in her eyes. "Not until tomorrow." She drew away slightly and hesitated, as if unwilling to completely break contact. She finally pushed gently against him, floating to one side so that she could climb up onto the log. This time, Jake allowed himself to look, and she smiled down at him, ears once again twitching playfully. She leaned her head back and let out a keening cry. Immediately Jake heard Seze's answering roar, followed by a distant splash and the sound of approaching wings.

They wordlessly mounted their _ikran _and returned to the root from which they'd leaped.

"So when you said 'Not yet'," Jake began, pulling on his loincloth –

Neytiri grinned at him, showing her small fangs in the moonlight. She finished retying the intricate knots of her top. It was full night now, and the forest spread around them like a vast, blue-green galaxy. "Come," was all she said. She vaulted onto Seze's back, and _ikran _and rider dropped off of the root, falling to skim the river's surface before angling off towards Hometree.

Jake watched them for a moment. "'What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Jake," he said again. Shaking his head, he leaped onto his own mount and chased Neytiri's glowing form until they broke above the canopy, where Hometree's soaring branches guided them home.


End file.
